


Taking The Long Road

by Krasimer



Category: Doctor Who (2005), Merlin (TV)
Genre: Arthur is dead, Arthur will be back one day, Hurt Merlin, Immortal Merlin, M/M, Merlin has to wait for him, Offers something to him, Tenth Doctor Era, The Doctor is sad and wants to help, the Doctor talks to Merlin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-14
Updated: 2018-02-14
Packaged: 2019-03-18 13:21:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 461
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13682526
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Krasimer/pseuds/Krasimer
Summary: “I’ve got a sort of…Ship. Thing.” The man grimaced as he tried to find words and Merlin got the sense that he was hedging, more than a little. “I travel. And sometimes I go through time.”“You travel through time?” Merlin raised an eyebrow, almost cheered for once.





	Taking The Long Road

“I could take you to him.”

Merlin looked up from his campfire, holding his hands towards the flames to try and ward off the chill he felt creeping in. The darkness stretched out around him, enveloping everything.

There was a man standing on the other side of the fire.

“What?”

The man stepped forward and crouched down, reaching his own hands out towards the fire as well. “You’re waiting for him to come back. Waiting for him to return to the world,” he paused, meeting Merlin’s gaze. “To return to you.” The man watched him for a minute, silence falling between them. “I could take you to the day it happens.”

Merlin tilted his head to one side, frowning. “What do you mean by that?”

“I mean…” the man sighed. “Right now, you’re on the long path. Sure, the scenery’s nice and all, but it’s got to be so much more painful for you.” He shrugged. “Well.” He looked off to the side. “Painful in a lot of ways, I imagine. I could sort of…Take you on a shortcut through the woods.”

For a moment, Merlin mulled the words over, biting the inside of his cheek. He thought he knew what the man was saying. He was definitely talking about Arthur, that much was obvious. “What sort of shortcut?” he asked instead of any of the other questions in his mind. “How would I arrive?”

“I’ve got a sort of…Ship. Thing.” The man grimaced as he tried to find words and Merlin got the sense that he was hedging, more than a little. “I travel. And sometimes I go through time.”

“You travel through time?” Merlin raised an eyebrow, almost cheered for once. Perhaps this man was a comedian of some kind?

“Yes,” the man said earnestly. “And I could take you to him.”

Merlin curled his knees to his chest as he thought for a moment. Seeing Arthur again would be everything he wanted. His king, healthy and whole, alive and well.

His love, returned to him from the grasp of death.

It was an alluring thought.

It was not, however, the way things should be. “I’m afraid I must decline your offer,” Merlin bowed his head, feeling the ages weighing down on him, the ones he must live out alone. “There are things that must be done, moments that must be seen to. I am afraid,” he paused, watching the man’s shoulders droop a little. “That I must take the longer path.”

“I can understand that,” the man nodded.

“However, if you can spare the time,” Merlin gestured at the fire. “Some company would not go amiss.”

“Time?” the man grinned, a comfortingly familiar little bit of madness in his eyes. “Oh, I’ve got plenty of that.”

**Author's Note:**

> Don't ask me. I don't know. Random ideas and trying to get over writer's block. Feeling like a failure of a writer, so I'm trying to get that out of my head.
> 
> Maybe comment on something?


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